Terrific and timely piece in today’s San Jose Mercury News by Berkeley Emeritus professor Jack Hollander on the role poverty plays in both human and environmental degradation. President Bush will spend a lot of time in Africa talking about AIDS and Liberia, when he isn’t deflecting questions about Iraq’s nuke efforts. Here’s hoping Bush takes time to discuss what Africa, in Hollander’s eyes, most needs to be a part of: “The global transition from poverty to affluence… in the context of a larger transition to freedom and democracy.”